According to wikipedia: "Perhaps Whitfield's greatest professional accomplishment is reflected in the Heisman Trophy awarded to Johnny Manziel (aka "Johnny Football") whom he groomed in the summer of 2012. Manziel's rise from obscurity to becoming the first player in history to win the prestigeous award as a freshman can, in large part, be credited to his work under Whitfield's guidance."

There are two big names when it comes to private quarterback coaches, George Whitfield jr and Terry Shea. These two guys work with the biggest QB's in the NFL, as well as the biggest college quarterbacks coming out in the draft.

Last year Whitfield worked with Andrew Luck and Cam Newton the year before, Shea worked with RGIII.

Yep, and like every other major QB today as well. ESPN just had a huge fluff piece on Manziel working with the guy. Also Newton was one of his projects. Braxton Miller worked with him this winter and OSU fans were raving about his improved throwing through spring supposedly. Did Martinez work with him last off season as well, or did he work with a different QB coach?

Doesn't he run his academy out of San Diego? Where are they training now becuase that looks a lot more like Michigan than California and who is paying the bill for his services? Just sort of curious but, either way I'm very excited about what Devin's gonna do this season.

Based on his physical attributes and the offense that Michigan runs, if Devin Gardner wins the Heisman (which is incredibly unlikely), he will be a top five, and likely first overall pick in the draft, and there is no possible way that he will stay for a Redshirt senior year.

None of us will care about that, because the worst possible scenario if Gardner puts up a Heisman season is a Rose Bowl, and more likely is a National Championship Game berth.

Devin Gardner, even during his recruitment, has proven himself to be a man with a good head on his shoulders and who loves this university. I fully expect him to be back for a fifth year no matter what.

He really does seem to have a good head on his shoulders and looks at the big picture. Now if he has an incredibly brilliant year and looks polished and refined and is projected to be a a top 10 pick I will not fault him for leaving but if not i think he will be back. Seems like a really good kid enjoying his college years to the fullest in every capacity.

If they don't have "much of anthing to do with" it, then what does? We have had two players in the relatively recent past who likely (or in one case definitely) would have gone number 1 in the draft and chose to return for their last year of eligibility in Jake Long and Taylor Lewan. If you don't think loving the school and having a good head on their shoulders plays a role, then what do you think does? My point is some people make the choice to stay, so why is that in your opinion.

I think it's a lot different for QBs. See Barkley, for example. Everyone thought last year he would be a top 5 pick, then he comes back and has an average season and drops big time. I don't think Lewan has the same risk, as his production should stay about the same barring injury.

I'm pretty sure people were saying the same thing about Taylor Lewan weren't they? I mean, he would have gone first overall as well and he stayed. My point is people on sites like this can speculate all they want but the bottom line is it's speculation and you should throw words around like "there is no possible way". I mean let's be honest...you have no more clue what DG will do than any other guy off the street. Speculations is fine, but you shouldn't try to frame like you know exactly what will happen in things like this, because usually the players themselves don't even know until the last minute. Just sayin'.

Lewan would not have been a first overall pick had he gone in this year's draft (at least, that was the projection when he made his decision, it's possible he could have moved up from a great offseason). Had Taylor Lewan gone pro, he probably would have been picked in the top five picks (pretty good shot he goes to the Lions at 5 instead of Ziggy Ansah), but this year was chock-full of offensive linemen, and even a bit of a stumble could have dropped him to the middle of the first round or later. The Likelihood this year is that he will be able to maintain a top ten draft pick position much more easily, since the odds of his stock falling are incredibly low.

The original question asked whether Devin Gardner would stay an amateur after a college season, and the answer is absolutely not. For starters, to win a Heisman as the QB in a pro-style system like Michigan's will essentially require that Gardner is the stand out top tier candidate for the entire season, and since Michigan is playing in a second-tier conference, that's going to be even harder. It literally won't be possible for his draft stock to get any higher than it would at that point. I would be upset with him if he were to stay, because there's no possible way his future could get brighter than it would be during that moment.

This is a pretty cool story. The picture above is at my sons high school , prospect hs in nw suburbs of Chicago. The head basketball coach knows the qb "whisperer" and devin and Braxton miller were scheduled to work out together for two days. As you can imagine it was pretty exciting for kids. Had to call my son out for a make believe dr. Appointment so he could watch the workouts. I am not sure how it worked out but it was pretty cool to have two heisman candidates working out at local high school. Sorry for the typing on this post on my iPad at San Diego airport and wanted to ad my two cents.

Alot of articles, interviews, etc. mention that Gardner is a gym rat and spends many hours watching film. I'd really like to see him back for his 5th year, especially if he has a great season this year.